Brenda Walsh
Brenda Walsh, played by Shannen Doherty, is a character introduced in the first series of the ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' continuity. She was the show's female lead from Seasons 1 to 4, until Doherty's exit prompted the character to be written off. Brenda returned in the franchise's third spin-off, 90210. Character Overview Brenda, along with fraternal twin Brandon Walsh, is the Daughter of Jim & Cindy Walsh. She lives in Minnesota until their father, Jim Walsh, gets a promotion and is forced to move to Beverly Hills in 1990. The show initially focused on their struggles with culture shock and their relationships with their new Beverly Hills friends, Donna Martin, Andrea Zuckerman, Kelly Taylor, Dylan McKay, and Steve Sanders. Beverly Hills, 90210 Season 1 The first season is quite eventful for Brenda: 1. She pretends to be a college student to romance a young lawyer name Jason. 2. She feels she lives in poverty when she gets to know Kelly and Donna Martin. 3. She gets implicated in shoplifting when she meets a new friend, Tiffany. 4. She develops a crush on her math teacher and agrees to babysit for him (and of course, drags Donna and Kelly to babysit with her). 5. She rescues Kelly from a bad date in spite of the fact that she doesn't have her license yet. 6. She dyes her hair to get Dylan's attention after hearing he has a preference for blondes, to disastrous results. 7. She becomes fascinated by Kelly's hip mother, Jackie but is completely unaware of Mrs. Taylor's alcoholism and drug use, and the effect of this on Kelly. 8. She volunteers for a rape crisis center and gets to know an unseen student date-rape victim and saves her from an attempted rape. 9. She starts falling for Dylan McKay, stirring different reactions from her family: Brandon is wary, and her father opposes it due to the fact that his father is in jail for corporate financial fraud. 10. She and her twin brother Brandon throw a party at their house and Brandon falls victim to the West Beverly High party scene when he ends up drinking a few too many tequilas, gets into a car accident, and is arrested for drunk driving. Brenda also helps Brandon cover up his drinking. 11. She and best friend Kelly win free skydiving lessons on a radio call-in show. 12. She throws a slumber party and invites Kelly, Donna and Andrea over for the night, with an unexpected and not so nice friend of Kelly's, Amanda Pacer crashing the party. 13. She and Dylan plan to meet at a hotel at Palm Springs during Presidents' Weekend, but Brenda forgets the name of the hotel where they're supposed to meet. She later finds Dylan but is suspicious of the girl who is already in his bedroom. 14. She moves into a single apartment owned by a hippie stand-up comedienne. 15. She discovers a lump in her breast, and has a biopsy. The most important event in terms of Brenda's growth as a character is her romance with Brandon's loner friend, Dylan McKay. Brenda and Dylan date for two years, and their relationship becomes serious very fast. Their relationship starts when, after an intense argument with his father, Dylan shares a passionate kiss with Brenda. After Brenda and Dylan date for two months, Dylan wants to have sex, but Brenda isn't ready. On a trip to Palm Springs, Brenda goes to meet Dylan in a hotel room, but sees him with someone else and jumps to the conclusion that they had sex. Brenda and Dylan fight but make up after talking it out. Dylan agrees to wait until Brenda is ready to take their relationship to the next level. Brenda then loses her virginity to Dylan at the spring dance. Shortly afterwards, Brenda worries that she may be pregnant. Season 1 ends with Brenda's uncertainty about her situation. Season 2 With school out for the summer, Brenda deals with her breakup with Dylan by taking a drama class with Donna, Andrea and David by Chris Sutler. It doesn't help that her mother invites Dylan to stay at their house after he has a accident while surfing in dangerous conditions. Much to Brenda's father's relief, Dylan finally agrees to go to Hawaii to visit his mother. Brenda, however, still can't stop thinking of Dylan even when he's away. As the summer draws to a close, Andrea and Brenda compete for the attentions of their drama teacher, Chris. The competition climaxes in their dramatic presentation at the end of class, where Brenda slaps Andrea out of jealousy. Brenda still loses out to Andrea, and this puts a strain on their unique friendship. At the beginning of the schoolyear, Brenda becomes peeved when Dylan starts spending time with the new transfer student Emily Valentine, who also has eyes for Brandon. In typical jealous and territorial Brenda fashion, she calls Emily a slut and tries to get her out of the group. She then realizes later that she was wrong to do that and apologizes to Emily. She and Dylan get back together, and Brandon is now free to pursue Emily and starts dating her. Brenda starts working at a posh boutique where her boss (whom she once thought was a metnor) starts mistreating her (and a mysterious old homeless man dressed as Santa Claus). To get back at her boss, her mother dresses as a rich woman who pretends that she's about to buy a lot of stuff only to say she wasn't interested in them anymore. Brenda also starts attending an exercise class, where she is tempted to cheat on Dylan when a college guy named Tim starts hitting on her. She doesn't know that at the same time, Dylan is also tempted by his old friend Sarah whom he meets at an AA meeting. Brenda becomes a victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being held at gunpoint by an armed robber during an after-hours hold up at the Peach Pit. Brenda then has waking nightmares of the event and sees a psychiatrist. The most climactic event for Brenda for the second season is when she incurs the wrath of her parents when she goes to Mexico on the sly with Dylan even after her father explicitly tells her not to. She gets caught when she realizes that she doesn't have her passport when they get to the Mexican border. Jim then bans Dylan from coming over to their house which only alienates Brenda even more, especially when Brandon and Kelly get mad at Brenda for asking them to lie for her during her surfing trip. Season 4 After graduating high school, Brenda met and began dating a rich young man named Stuart Carson. Stuart was quickly smitten enough to propose to her. Though Brenda accepted, a decision was ultimately made to abort the wedding. She joined an animal activism team while in college, and ended up being arrested for aiding the group during an illegal trespassing mission. It was around this time that Brenda had begun to seriously pursue acting. After several successful performances in college plays, she eventually chose to leave America in order to work on-stage in London. Brenda correctly suspected that romantic feelings were beginning to blossom between Brandon and Kelly, and expressed her blessing before leaving. Brenda and Dylan shared a farewell kiss following his break-up with Kelly, with plans to resume their romance upon her return in the coming months. The reunion, however, would end up occurring years later than intended (due to Shannen Doherty's imminent exit from the show), taking place off-screen while Dylan himself was out of the country. Interval During her time away from Beverly Hills, Brenda became a play director. She also visited Kelly shortly after her friend gave birth to a son she had with Dylan. Despite the physical distance between them, Brenda also maintained a close relationship with her brother Brandon. ''90210'' Comeback Brenda returned to Beverly Hills in 90210, the continuity's fourth series. At the Peach Pit, she reunited with Nat, the restaurant's owner, and her old friend Kelly, who had become a guidance counselor at West Beverly High. Additionally, she was later reunited with Kelly's sibling Erin, and learned that her old friend Donna, like Kelly, had become a mother. Brenda was soon given the chance to direct a musical at her old school, and she accepted. Not long afterwords, she offered motherly advice to a troubled student actress named Adrianna. It was also revealed that Brenda had been in touch with Dylan, who had separated from Kelly and since gone off to travel the world in support of various causes. Brenda suspected that Kelly wasn't yet over Dylan, while Kelly began to suspect that Brenda was still interested in him as well. Brenda took offense to the suggestion, but the women quickly reconciled before again going their separate ways. Soon afterwords in private, Brenda deleted Dylan's number from her cell phone. Later, she spent time at a party with West Beverly teacher Ryan Matthews, who Kelly had held a brief romantic interest in, and left with him before departing town. Revelations Following her return to Beverly Hills, Brenda is thinking about having sex with Liam , but became mysteriously distant from Kelly. When Kelly became confused and upset, Brenda eventually revealed that she'd slept with Ryan, and had become ashamed. Kelly then walked away in silence. Following a physical examination, Brenda learned that she couldn't have children. When Adrianna completed rehab for drug use, she asked Kelly to invite Brenda to a celebration for herself and others. Distraught, Brenda initially declined, but later changed her mind and attended the event along with Kelly. This eventually led Kelly, Brenda, and Adrianna to discover that Adrianna had become pregnant. During a private discussion with Kelly afterwords, Brenda revealed what she'd learned from her doctor. Kelly provided comfort, and the two made amends once again. Brenda later departed for China and adopted a little girl, who she temporarily left in Jim and Cindy's care. She returned shortly after Adrianna had given birth, helping to comfort her as she gave the baby up for adoption. Appearance and Style Love Life Dylan McKay Main page: Dylan-Brenda Relationship Dylan was Brenda's first love. They met when Dylan and Brandon became friends. They had a great relationship throughout season 1, however after a pregnancy scare, she broke up with Dylan. During the summer, Dylan began a short-lived relationship with Kelly Taylor. Rick Stuart Carson Trivia Quotes *"How many days in a row can you go shopping before your officially declared brain dead?" - The Gentle Art of Listening *"Those nice boys may be mild-mannered on the outside, but mostly all they think about is sex." - Isn't It Romantic? *"I like your butt... I mean your bike." Photos This character has a Photo Gallery. ja:ブレンダ・ウォルシュ Category:Beverly Hills, 90210 Characters Category:90210 Characters Category:Walsh Family Category:Beverly Hills, 90210 Category:90210